The bill would expand penalties for those convicted of driving while intoxicated beyond a fourth time. A fourth offense would go from an 18 month sentence to 30 months, 18 of which could not be suspended or deferred. A fifth offense would go from two years to three years, a sixth offense from thirty months to 42 months and a seventh offense from three years to four years.

Any offense after that would come with a 12 year sentence, which would be a second degree felony.

The bill would require the state to provide more information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as NICS, for firearm background checks. The bill would also create a process for those who aren’t allowed to own a firearm to petition the court to allow them to own a firearm.

This is an attempt to thread the needle on the controversial issue of REAL ID and would allow New Mexicans to apply for an ID card that is compliant with the federal REAL ID Act. The bill also require noncompliant driver’s licenses to state that they are “not for federal purposes.”

Right now, the protected classes in the Hate Crimes Act are race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, handicapped status, gender and sexual orientation or gender identity. Any crime “motivated by hate” against that class would add one year to a sentence. This bill would add “status as a law enforcement officer” and change “handicapped status” to “disability.”

Call it the Dianna Duran law. It basically says that if a public official is convicted of a “corruption offense” that they would no longer be eligible for pensions from the Public Employees Retirement Act.

This is the year’s version of the bill to change the state law that allows those in the state to get driver’s licenses. It would allow those not in the state to have “driver’s privilege cards” but would not allow them to have driver’s licenses. In the past, the House voted to repeal the law that allows those who cannot prove they are in the country legally from legally driving at all. HB 123 is the version put forward by Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque.

For as long as the state has been putting campaign finance reports, the website that holds them has been a mess. This seeks to change that and make the information more easily accessible to those who are interested. It would also allow for those to submit the “relevant data” “in an electronic format prescribed by the secretary of state.”

With questions swirling about inauguration money, here comes an attempt to formalize the process. It would require the money that is donated to gubernatorial inauguration committees to be public record, much like campaign donations. It would also cap donations at $2,000 per person and say any money that is left over would go to charity or to the governor’s resident preservation fund.

The statewide minimum wage has remained at $7.50 per hour since 2009. While some cities and counties have larger minimum wages, with Santa Fe’s among the highest in the nation, the rest of the state has remained at the $7.50 number. This bill would raise the statewide minimum wage to $10.10 by 2019, and index that with inflation. Increases would happen annually.

Another attempt to expand what lobbyists must report. This bill would require more information from lobbyists on the funds they spend while lobbying. It would also require the information to go up within 48 hours of the filing on the Secretary of State’s website and 24 hours during any legislative session.

No one votes in elections for school boards around the state. Well, some people do, but the turnout is generally extremely low. That’s because the elections are currently held in the “first Tuesday of each odd-numbered year.” Bandy’s bill would change this to “the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each odd-numbered year.” That would put it more in line with bigger elections (though obviously in an odd-numbered year).

The bill would put $700,000 towards a “criminal justice clearinghouse.” The bill doesn’t specify, but a press release when the bill was pre-filed says that it would centralize six different criminal databases, which Gentry says will give judges “real-time information on the defendants who come before them.”

Here is a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour by 2017. It would then increase with inflation annually, “to the nearest multiple of five cents” annually. The bill also eliminates the $2.13 minimum wage for tipped employees.

A tough on crime piece of legislation that targets public officials. Or at least the ones convicted of corruption. The bill would add penalties for fraud, embezzlement, extortion, forgery and other crimes of corruption when committed by a public official.

This would put $950,000 in funding towards studying many aspects of both public and private options of a statewide broadband infrastructure plan. The priority would look at “high-priority, underserved rural areas.”

Another bill that will be a big priority for Republicans this session. This one would allow double-dipping for law-enforcement officers if they return to work. Basically, any police officer who retired before the end of 205 could come back and work without having to give up their pension while they’re working. This is an effort to fight against the shortage of officers.

It’s not often you see a bill introduced essentially in response to a loud party in a hotel room. This bill would create a “Governor’s contingency fund” in the state treasury that is administered directly by the governor’s office. The fund would be subject to the state Audit Act and Procurement Code.

Largely in response to work done by New Mexico In Depth, this bill would require “a list of capital projects and the names of the legislators and or the governor” who requested the allocation of capital outlay funds. The list would be published “with twenty-four hours after the governor has acted on the capital outlay bill.” The list would be put online.

In the last two redistricting special sessions, the Legislature passed redistricting maps that were vetoed by the governor. So in the last two cases of redistricting, a judge drew the maps themselves. This would take the Legislature and Governor out of the process and instead put it in the hands of an independent redistricting commission. A U.S. Supreme Court decision last year made clear that this is constitutionally allowed. Since it would change the state constitution, it would go to the voters if the House and Senate were to pass it.

As you likely know by now, New Mexico is the only state that does not give legislators a salary (though New Hampshire legislators earn a token $200 per term). McMillan’s bill would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to provide a salary for legislators “equal to the median household income in New Mexico for the most recent calendar year as determined by the United States census bureau.” As an aside, California legislators make $97,197 per year PLUS a $168-a-day per diem when they are in session. That’s the highest legislative salary in the country.

While legislators have been fighting to create an independent ethics commission, Dines decided that it should go straight to the voters. He is proposing a constitutional amendment to create an independent ethics commission, which would not go to the governor’s desk.

Increasing funding for early childhood education through tapping a portion of the land grant permanent fund has been a priority for many Democrats in the state for years. This is another attempt to ask voters to do just that. Getting the constitutional amendment to the voters, however, would be a tough battle.

State Rep. Bobby Gonzales shook his head from side to side after listening to all the suggestions about how to meet a judge's order to provide more resources to New Mexico children who, in the court's view, are not receiving a good public education. "About 15 different ideas," the Democrat from Taos said following a hearing on the topic last week in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.

A New Mexico state lawmaker is going head to head with the state Attorney General in her private capacity as an attorney. And she thinks it relates back to something from the most recent state legislative session.

A growing number of voters don't want to register as either Republicans or Democrats, so a bipartisan group of lawmakers is proposing legislation that would allow independents to vote in New Mexico primary elections. Independent and third-party voters can't participate in New Mexico's June primaries, often a point of contention because 23 percent of the state's voters are not affiliated with the major political parties and state funds pay for the primaries.

Democrats in the state House of Representatives say they hope to move quickly to approve a measure that would draw more money from the state Land Grant Permanent Fund for early childhood education, thereby pressuring powerful Sen. John Arthur Smith to give it a hearing. The proposed state constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 1, could get its first committee hearing within a week, far earlier than at any time in the eight years Democrats have pushed the measure.

State Rep. Bobby Gonzales shook his head from side to side after listening to all the suggestions about how to meet a judge's order to provide more resources to New Mexico children who, in the court's view, are not receiving a good public education.

Matthew Reichbach is the editor of the NM Political Report. The former founder and editor of the NM Telegram, Matthew was also a co-founder of New Mexico FBIHOP with his brother and one of the original hires at the groundbreaking website the New Mexico Independent. Matthew has covered events such as the Democratic National Convention and Netroots Nation and formerly published, “The Morning Word,” a daily political news summary for NM Telegram and the Santa Fe Reporter.
Matthew has appeared as a panelist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ New Mexico Chapter’s panel on covering New Mexico politics and the legislature.
A native New Mexican from Rio Rancho, Matthew’s family has been in New Mexico since the 1600s.